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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Assessing Family Level Behaviors For Obesity Prevention: Development And Preliminary Validation Of The Family Stage Of Change Tool, Katherine B. Gunter, Patrick Abi Nader, Brendan D. Klein, Deborah H. John Oct 2014

Assessing Family Level Behaviors For Obesity Prevention: Development And Preliminary Validation Of The Family Stage Of Change Tool, Katherine B. Gunter, Patrick Abi Nader, Brendan D. Klein, Deborah H. John

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

We applied the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to develop the Family Stage of Change (FSOC) screening tool. Our goal was to provide practitioners an instrument that measures families’ readiness to change obesity preventing behaviors, in order to optimize family-focused obesity-prevention intervention strategies. We evaluated instrument validity by comparing responses on the FSOC to related items on a validated family behavioral and environmental assessment (Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Assessment; FNPA) shown to predict child BMI. Study participants included parents and caregivers (N = 146) of children ages 2-14 years recruited through preschool, elementary, and middle school listservs. Descriptive analyses were conducted …


Determining The Feasibility Of Milk Vending Machines To Improve Calcium Intake Among College Students, Laura E. Monnat, Angela M. Rose, Julie A. Kennel, Christopher H. Holloman, Gail L. Kaye, Carolyn W. Gunther Oct 2014

Determining The Feasibility Of Milk Vending Machines To Improve Calcium Intake Among College Students, Laura E. Monnat, Angela M. Rose, Julie A. Kennel, Christopher H. Holloman, Gail L. Kaye, Carolyn W. Gunther

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Calcium intake declines from late adolescence to young adulthood, in part, due to decreases in accessibility to milk and dairy products. While milk vending has shown demonstrated success in secondary schools, no studies have examined whether milk vending improves calcium intake among college students. We hypothesized that milk and calcium intake would be higher among college students given access to milk vending in their dormitory (milk vending consumers) compared to those lacking access in their dormitory (non-milk vending consumers). Milk vending machines were installed in two dormitories, and two dormitories having non-milk beverage vending served as comparison sites. Students completed …


Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 3, Donna J. Peterson Oct 2014

Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 3, Donna J. Peterson

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

No abstract provided.


Sequence-Based Antigenic Change Prediction By A Sparse Learning Method Incorporating Co-Evolutionary Information., Jialiang Yang, Tong Zhang, Xiu-Feng Wan Sep 2014

Sequence-Based Antigenic Change Prediction By A Sparse Learning Method Incorporating Co-Evolutionary Information., Jialiang Yang, Tong Zhang, Xiu-Feng Wan

College of Veterinary Medicine Publications and Scholarship

Rapid identification of influenza antigenic variants will be critical in selecting optimal vaccine candidates and thus a key to developing an effective vaccination program. Recent studies suggest that multiple simultaneous mutations at antigenic sites accumulatively enhance antigenic drift of influenza A viruses. However, pre-existing methods on antigenic variant identification are based on analyses from individual sites. Because the impacts of these co-evolved sites on influenza antigenicity may not be additive, it will be critical to quantify the impact of not only those single mutations but also multiple simultaneous mutations or co-evolved sites. Here, we developed and applied a computational method, …


Methylseleninic Acid Sensitizes Notch3-Activated Ovca429 Ovarian Cancer Cells To Carboplatin., Tiffany J. Tzeng, Lei Cao, Yangxin Fu, Huawei Zeng, Wen-Hsing Cheng Jul 2014

Methylseleninic Acid Sensitizes Notch3-Activated Ovca429 Ovarian Cancer Cells To Carboplatin., Tiffany J. Tzeng, Lei Cao, Yangxin Fu, Huawei Zeng, Wen-Hsing Cheng

College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Publications and Scholarship

Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of gynecologic cancers, is usually not diagnosed until advanced stages. Although carboplatin has been popular for treating ovarian cancer for decades, patients eventually develop resistance to this platinum-containing drug. Expression of neurogenic locus notch homolog 3 (Notch3) is associated with chemoresistance and poor overall survival in ovarian cancer patients. Overexpression of NICD3 (the constitutively active form of Notch3) in OVCA429 ovarian cancer cells (OVCA429/NICD3) renders them resistance to carboplatin treatment compared to OVCA429/pCEG cells expressing an empty vector. We have previously shown that methylseleninic acid (MSeA) induces oxidative stress and activates ataxia-telangiectasia mutated and DNA-dependent protein …


What Parents Really Think About Their Feeding Practices And Behaviors: Lessons Learned From The Development Of A Parental Feeding Assessment Tool, Stephanie L. Sitnick, Lenna L. Ontai, Marilyn Townsend Jun 2014

What Parents Really Think About Their Feeding Practices And Behaviors: Lessons Learned From The Development Of A Parental Feeding Assessment Tool, Stephanie L. Sitnick, Lenna L. Ontai, Marilyn Townsend

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Interest in the role that parenting assumes in child obesity has increased the need for valid and reliable screening tools that are specific for populations targeted by programming efforts. While low-income families comprise a large audience for Cooperative Extension obesity prevention programs, valid and reliable selfadministered parenting assessments for this population are lacking. Development of such tools requires understanding low-income parents’ interpretations of questions related to their parenting. The current paper reports on interviews conducted with low-income parents (N = 44) of 3- to 5-year-old children during the development of a tool to assess parenting in the context of feeding. …


Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 2, Donna J. Peterson Jun 2014

Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 2, Donna J. Peterson

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

No abstract provided.


Evidence Of Positive Selection In Mitochondrial Complexes I And V Of The African Elephant., Tabitha M. Finch, Nan Zhao, Dmitry Korkin, Katy H. Frederick, Lori S. Eggert Apr 2014

Evidence Of Positive Selection In Mitochondrial Complexes I And V Of The African Elephant., Tabitha M. Finch, Nan Zhao, Dmitry Korkin, Katy H. Frederick, Lori S. Eggert

College of Veterinary Medicine Publications and Scholarship

As species evolve, they become adapted to their local environments. Detecting the genetic signature of selection and connecting that to the phenotype of the organism, however, is challenging. Here we report using an integrative approach that combines DNA sequencing with structural biology analyses to assess the effect of selection on residues in the mitochondrial DNA of the two species of African elephants. We detected evidence of positive selection acting on residues in complexes I and V, and we used homology protein structure modeling to assess the effect of the biochemical properties of the selected residues on the enzyme structure. Given …


A Head Start Farm To Family Pilot Program Increased Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among Families, Carmen J. Byker, Courtney A. Pinard, Susan F. Clark, Elena L. Serrano Feb 2014

A Head Start Farm To Family Pilot Program Increased Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among Families, Carmen J. Byker, Courtney A. Pinard, Susan F. Clark, Elena L. Serrano

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Fresh Produce, Fresh Start was a pilot farm to family study which tested the effectiveness of a local produce delivery program on dietary intake of Head Start participants. Utilizing a pre-test/post-test design, measures collected from Head Start parents included 24-hour recall of dietary intake, height and weight, and a food security questionnaire. Intent-to-treat analysis was conducted using paired t-tests. Significant increases were found in intake of vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, vegetable, and fruit and vegetable servings combined (p < .05) for participants (N = 51). In particular, fruit and vegetable intake increased by 1.4 servings per day. Food security status and weight status did not significantly change. Results indicate that a produce delivery program has potential to improve dietary intake of Head Start families and, possibly, other populations, impacting lifelong consumption habits


Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 1, Donna J. Peterson Feb 2014

Full Issue, Volume 2, Number 1, Donna J. Peterson

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

No abstract provided.